


There's a Fine Line Between Coincidence, Fate, and Jonathan Carnahan

by celli



Category: The Mummy Series
Genre: Chromatic Character, Eid ka Chand, First Time, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-09-13
Updated: 2010-09-13
Packaged: 2017-10-11 19:33:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 485
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/116135
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/celli/pseuds/celli
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jonathan puffed up with outrage. "I will squander my fortune where I damn well please."</p>
            </blockquote>





	There's a Fine Line Between Coincidence, Fate, and Jonathan Carnahan

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to havocthecat for the encouragement and betaing!

_Cairo, 1936_

The hotel room door opened and crashed against the opposite wall.

"I say," Jonathan said aggrievedly from the hallway, "the management won't take kindly to me if I damage the—"

"Stop. Talking," Ardeth said through clenched teeth.

Surprisingly, Jonathan obeyed, even when the door slammed shut behind them. Ardeth sighed with relief and found a corner of the room to dump the saddlebags in, ignoring the cloud of dust it provoked.

By the time he turned around, Jonathan had already fixed himself a drink and was lounging on the room's one chair.

It made looming over him more convenient. Ardeth stood above Jonathan and crossed his arms. "Well?"

Jonathan looked at Ardeth over the rim of his glass, eyes wide and innocent. "I'm supposed to stop talking, remember?"

Ardeth put one hand on the hilt of his dagger.

"I've as much right to be in the desert as anyone," Jonathan said hurriedly.

"You've as much right to get yourself killed as anyone," Ardeth said. "First you get lost on your way to a dig—"

"Is it my fault unscrupulous guides are cheaper than honest ones?"

"Then you get involved with a tribal skirmish—"

"Could happen to anyone—"

"And we won't even speak of the incident with the British army garrison." Jonathan opened his mouth. "I said, we're not speaking of it," Ardeth barked.

Jonathan sulked into his drink.

Ardeth waved a hand at the saddlebags. "And now this. Trapped under a camel? A _camel_?"

"All right, I realize it sounds rather…comical when presented all at once," Jonathan said.

Ardeth crossed his arms again. "I find it very amusing," he said flatly.

Jonathan stood, the movement bringing his face up scant inches from Ardeth's, and eased himself past him. "This conversation requires more gin."

"Why aren't you back in England, squandering your new fortune and scandalizing your sister?"

Jonathan puffed up with outrage. "I will squander my fortune where I damn well please."

Ardeth just stared at him.

"Ah, hell," Jonathan said. He dropped his glass, took a quick step forward, and grabbed Ardeth by the arms. Ardeth, the man who had honed his reflexes to a near-supernatural state, stood frozen.

"Don't stab me," Jonathan said, and mashed his lips against Ardeth's.

Finally, Ardeth's body was back under his control. He slapped his hands against Jonathan's chest—and grabbed handfuls of Jonathan's grime-streaked shirt to drag him closer.

Jonathan made a satisfied noise, then a startled one, and leaned back. "So—"

Ardeth tightened his grip on Jonathan's shirt and shook him a little. "Do you think it was easy, following you around the Upper and Lower Kingdoms so I could just 'happen' to save you?"

Jonathan laughed. "D'you think it was easy, getting a camel to fall on me? Little bugger kept going every which way—"

"Jonathan?"

Jonathan sputtered to a halt. "Yes?" he asked meekly.

"Stop. Talking," Ardeth said, and kissed him.


End file.
